Bread and Breakfast

What are the chances that the first time you meet someone they hand you a sourdough starter? Turns out pretty good in the ultra running community. Such a great collection of people. Thanks Brendan for bringing it from Durango! I let it get lonely in the fridge for almost a month – I fed it once but honestly I was afraid I killed it! April and May are busy months in the life of a school counselor, and frankly though his tips made it sound simple I was intimidated. Bread, sourdough bread at that seems like the holy grail something I had always wanted to do but never dove in – nothing like a gift to force you to try something new! Since I thought I had killed the poor little culture I fed it A LOT to get ready to bake bread. Problem is then I had a ton of starter that I would have to either discard or find uses for and it wasn’t all going back in the fridge for next time. So I had to get creative – it seems like Rob has been on the road since beginning a leave from his job and we haven’t seen much of each other so I took an extra day off work so we could spend three whole days together! Rob isn’t much of a breakfast eater but when he is it’s all about pancakes, it was a cold morning and it snowed the night before so pancakes were a logical choice. I also made some delicious biscuits and of course bread. Recipes and pictures below

Blueberry Picky Sourdough Pancakes

When Rob eats pancakes he eats A LOT of pancakes so I was searching for a way to make them heartier and maybe add some crunch when the Blueberry Boomdizzle Picky Bars caught me eye. I think it might be my favorite flavor and imagining a bar crumbled into pancakes with some blueberry folded in made my mouth water. Here is the resulting recipe – it really sticks to the ribs! I wasn’t sure how to adapt a recipe to include sourdough starter so after some research I came upon and adapted a recipe from Yumarama. You could certainly use a more traditional buttermilk pancake recipe and add the blueberries and picky bar.

We served them slathered with butter and apple butter with warm maple syrup

Sourdough Biscuits

I love jam and there is nothing like warm biscuits with butter and jam these got paired with some jalapeño jam after a long run. This recipe is adapted from a recipe posted on food.com

Ingredients

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 cup cold earth balance cut into small pieces

1 cup sourdough starter

Preheat oven to 425

Combine dry ingredients

Using a fork or your fingers to cut in the margarine – combine until it looks like coarse crumbs

Knead a few times until flour is combined

On a lightly floured surface roll out t about 3/4 inch thick, cut out biscuits using a glass or other round object and place on an cookie sheet

Bake for about 15 minutes until golden

Bread!

And finally the recipe I used for my first loaf of bread! I felt like I had to follow a recipe – experimentation will follow I am sure but I needed help with my first try. Here are some links to some helpful sites about sourdough starter: